On major servers such as Foxy, OGS, KGS, etc - I'd be curious to know if the average ranking has gone up with the introduction of skilled AI. Not necessarily because of improved skill, but I'd bet that there are plenty of "sandbagging" accounts out there.

Do these servers publish any information?

A general increase in skill is almost impossible to detect. I suppose that servers could use unchanging bots to measure change against.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

What if you rated players from the weakest to the best? It should work as the top will get stronger, and the weakest a human could play would not change. At least in theory.

In reality, maybe not. The weakest players could improve by copying AI. But bots don't seem a foolproof solution if humans could learn to beat them. Although I think random play is immune to this so can work as point zero* .

*Hmm, but you could still play worse than random. And get a negative rating .

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On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

The real ranking of a beginner can change in minutes !



If bots can play like humans, this is no longer a problem. As long as humans learn to beat them, they deserve their new rank